The Water is Wide - Songs of the Seas and Rivers


A favorite of library audiences for his uplifting renditions of popular American folksongs, Tim Holt performs and discusses our heritage of sea chanteys, whaling songs, traditional songs ("Shenandoah" and "The Erie Canal"), and Woody Guthrie's Columbia River songs promoting public power. He also includes an original song, "Sailing Down My Mountain Stream," adapted from a Pete Seeger song about cleaning up the Hudson River. Holt's version focuses on a more recent effort to restore wild salmon to the upper reaches of the Sacramento River.

Note that, in a break with the usual pattern, this Excelsior Arts and Culture Salon offering will be on the second, instead of the fourth Wednesday of the month.

Wednesday, May 11, 7:00-8:30 pm

Music with Pam Donkin


A hop skip and a jump! - for young children

Encourage literacy in this interactive and fun musical program. Join Pam Donkin as she leads songs, chants and fingerplays that help with reading-readiness.


Tuesday, May 3, 11:00 - 11:30 am

Button Mania for Teens - Recycle-a-thon!

Make a button with your favorite pic or words. Cut it out, print it out, or draw your own. FYI, buttons are small (1 1/4 inches in diameter). Materials provided. Join us in making buttons and other recycled crafts! This is a WritersCorps event led by Aracely Gonzalez.

Wednesday, May 4 and 18, 4:00 - 5:30 pm

First Monday Movie for May - Angel Face


Ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) falls under the spell of spoiled rich girl Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons) when he’s called to her home following a near fatal “accident.” Frank soon becomes the Tremayne chauffeur, and he dreams of opening his own sports-car garage with the help of Diane’s money. But Diane's got a few quirks - especially her hostility toward her stepmother. Frank begins to feel danger under Diane’s surface sweetness as she slowly pulls him into her world of lies and deceit. Directed by Otto Preminger (1952/91 mins.)

Monday, May 2, 6:30 pm

Call+Response

This April, the Excelsior Branch Arts & Culture Salon features Call+Response, a film about modern day slavery.

Join Director Justin Dillon at this screening of Call + Response, a pioneering documentary that exposes the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before. Call + Response goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving, from the child brothels of Cambodia to the brick kilns of rural India, revealing that in 2009, slave traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks together. Prominent political and cultural figures such as Cornel West, Madeleine Albright, Daryl Hannah, Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd and Nicholas Kristof offer firsthand accounts of this 21st century trade. The film features performances from Grammy-winning and critically acclaimed artists including Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Talib Kweli and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Dillon will answer questions and discuss the film with the audience following the screening.


Wednesday, April 27 @ 7:00 pm

National Poetry Month


Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

Keep an eye out for Poem in Your Pocket Day at Excelsior Branch Library on April 14!

Check out some “poetry generator” sites:

For example
Think Zone Poem Generator
Will produce poems like this:

Sails endure like sunny gulls.
Why does the shark die?
Misty, rough clouds swiftly love a small, old shore.
Clear, dead winds roughly view a lively, misty lad.
The breeze travels like a warm captain.

Shrink calmly like a misty slum.
Love, work, and life.
Life, life, and action.
The car gabs like a big street.
The big girl quickly buys the hood.

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These are from Language is a Virus:

So comely in the fog
Strangely green beyond the shadows
You cavort with cold faces in the air
Take cover! The sin is done
Very quiet below the spirits
We poke evil flames over the tomb
God! The day has vanished
So comely in the fog
You conjure dark delusions about the rain
Alass! The Knave is vanishing
shifting hungry
never meeting
no words left
From what country
the sailor
wander aimlessly
in the late light

Strange and colorful about the clouds
So murky in the air
You prod dry teeth about the spirits
Can you dig it? The sin must continue
Dark and black below the shadows
I smell luminous fragments over the light
Ahhh! The Queen is going
Strange and colorful about the clouds
I swallow dark hooks over the fire
I reach! The day felt good
darkening nameless
saying goodbye
sun on his face
In how many places
the god
turn aside
in the late light

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Or try this: Poetry Generator

This one from the Educational Technology Training Center is more interactive.

Dewey Classifications for Poetry

800s for literature generally
808 for materials about the craft of writing

So ...
808.1 for materials about the craft of writing poetry

Poetry class numbers tend to end in 1

Poetry collections begin at 808.81

American poetry in English begins at 811
English poetry begins at 821

Some examples of numbers for poetry in other languages:

831 German poetry
839.71 Swedish poetry
841 French poetry

851 Italian poetry
861 Spanish poetry
869.1 Portuguese poetry
871 Latin poetry
881 Classical Greek poetry
889.1 Modern Greek poetry

891.86 Czech poetry

891.71 Russian poetry
895.61 Japanese poetry

Spring Craft with Marianne for children


Please come join in the Springtime fun and crate an Easter craft with Marianne. All ages welcome! Space limited; call for reservations.


Saturday, April 16, 2011

11:30 - 12:15